Dublin drops from 11th to 15th in The Copenhagenize Index 2015 - Bicycle-friendly Cities which was published on Tuesday June 2nd with following entry -

15. Dublin, Ireland

The Lowdown: Dublin has been a darling on the Copenhagenize Index since 2011 and the city has been inspirational for the rest of the world in its efforts to increase cycling levels. Once the third great cycling city in Europe after Amsterdam and Copenhagen, Dublin has the historical background for bringing the bicycles back. Dublin seems to be suffering from the same malady as other cities that have made impressive progress. They have seemingly slipped into apathy - and a few places down the Index. What Dublin has achieved over the past few years is fantastic. The perfect cocktail of politicians who get it, investment in infrastructure and facilities, traffic calming measures and an epic bike share system accelerated the city’s journey to urban modernisation. You can’t take that away from Dublin, but you could wish for another period of concerted effort.

The Region: It’s a long way to anywhere interesting when you are Dublin. Great Britain obscures the view of like-minded, bicycle-friendly cities in Europe. Between the Irish capital and the Continent is London, who is slugging it out for a Top 40 finish on the Index and of little inspiration to Dublin.

The Fixes: The National Transport Authority has been putting their back into it but the City of Dublin hasn’t been lifting their share. Building upon their successes is of paramount importance. Choosing sub-standard infrastructure along the Quays is not exactly the way to go if you’re trying to develop a cohesive network for the next 100 years. The bike share rocks, but now a your network and bicycle strategy should be developed and followed to the letter. You’ve come so far but you’re not there yet.

Back in 2013 Dublin was dubbed “the Great Bike Hope” by the index with such promise of great things to come. So what happened ?

Cian Ginty with his piece for irishcycle.com predicted Dublin’s decline in the rankings. He outlined the main causes as -

1. Key cycling routes keep getting delayed
2. The city keeps mixing cycling and walking on shared footpaths
3. The city has dragged its heels on contra-flow
4. Many quiet street are allowed to be rat runs
5. Major projects allowed without cycling elements

The article concluded with “Cycling is on the increase but Dublin needs to try harder to provide for cycling for all ages and abilities.”

Dublin Cycling Campaign’s Keith Byrne stated that successes like the increasing use of Dublinbikes had been cancelled out by the lack of investment in cycling infrastructure resulting in greater competition for limited road space with other users. He went on to say, “Dame Street is a prime example, it has the highest number, out of any street in the country, of people cycling on the road. That’s without restrictions on certain types of traffic or a change in traffic light placement for cyclists. We know there are great plans but we need to get on with them if we want to stay on the list.”